U.S. Tops Second Hand Ship Purchasing Market

U.S.-based company Gener8 Maritime has spent the most money on second-hand tonnage in the industry so far this year, according to VesselsValue.com data.

The company spent approximately $1.4 billion on 14 ships. The product of a merger/acquisition between Navig8 and General Maritime Corp, Gener8 commenced operations in May this year with a fleet of 46 tankers made up of 21 VLCC newbuildings and 25 vessels on the water consisting of seven VLCCs, 11 Suezmaxes, four Aframaxes, two Panamax tankers, and one Handymax tanker, together comprising over 11 million deadweight tons with an average age of less than 5.5 years upon delivery of the newbuildings.

MISC ranked second in the VesselsValue.com data with $1.065 billion spent on five ships.

Euronav ranked third with $776 million for eight ships, Ship Finance International ranked fourth with $566 million for 11 vessels, and Sinokor Merchant Marine ranked fifth with its $402 million for 10 ships.

The graph below shows VesselsValue.com data on the total spent on second-hand tonnage in 2015 by nation up until the end of May compared with the same time frame in 2014.The biggest spender was the U.S., spending over $3 billion, closely followed by Greece. Norway ranked third at $640 million with China in fourth buying $573 million.